March Books
I am extremely pleased with the number of books I got through in February. I exceeded my own expectations of what I could do. I am going to continue to try and improve....
Good to Great - Finished March 2, 2019. I enjoyed this book very much and felt it really did have some personal applications... I did think the material could have been pared down a tad...
Retrain Your Brain: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - Finished March 4, 2019. I dont want to go so far as saying every person should read this book, but I do think every single incoming freshman in any college or university or what, should have this taught in their beginning college class. It would be invaluable to them personally, to the school, to society, to our mental health resources.
Between the World and Me - Finished March 4, 2019. I had this book recommended to me yesterday and started today. I had to keep stopping as I cried. I cried because no one should feel this way. I cried because I could relate to so much of this love letter to a son. I cried because so much I never had to worry about in the raising of my son. And as the letter progressed, I saw the raising of a man, the father, his world open as he tried to give it to his son. It is a beautifully painful truth. And I cried because he has no Hope, a choice of non-belief.
How To Be Free - Finished March 6, 2019. A very quick book about the theory of living a Stoic life. Freedom is in your head. It is leaving behind that which could entangle you.
Option B - Finished March 10, 2019. I havent cried through a book like this in a while... It was entirely due to empathy for a woman who lost her husband she loved dearly. She liked him. I like mine. Liking is so different than loving. Of course we love them, but I feel doubly blessed I like mine, and this feeling fed into feels of what I would feel at my own personal loss. Sorry, John. It was well done in how do you deal, persevere, overcome difficult life happenings. No gets out of this life unchafed - this is how to do it well.
White Fragility - Finished March 12, 2019. It was interesting and uncomfortable. As it should be. I found it fascinating as this book, while directed at white people, very much called out "progressive white people" many times who the author tended to state believed they were just fine regarding race. I have often wondered that myself, especially after Malcolm Gladwell's podcast covering this thing. Thats not to say that if you do not identify as "Progressive" you are let off the hook, far from it - it was just an interesting beginning and theme through out the book. I self-righteously felt pleased that there was information in this book I already knew - and then was chided that there was also much I did not know. I found it fascinating, humbling. I will continue the work suggested in this book. As an aside, this book was recommended reading on an Instagram post. Yarn artists (knitters, crocheters, dyers) have been having an ongoing discussion on the medium over race. For the most part, it has been a growing and learning exchange, at least on my part.
*** As I count only 6 books almost half way through March, I am slightly dismayed. I have come to realize that being gone in the evenings has put a crimp in my reading. I am examining how to adjust to continue as I have. But honestly, if I slow down, its fine...Its baseball season - the best season of the year.
Sleeping Giants - Finished March 13, 2019. This book is precious to me. Written by someone my family cherishes. The Mellors are family. They walked into our bible class about 12 years ago, and we liked them instantly. I knew she was a kindred spirit when she told me how much her last child liked mine and for the reason.... He could burp the 23rd Psalm for her daughter. Mercy. Since then, we have worshiped, studied, planted a church, and ended back up in our original class together. There is a hole in our week if we dont connect, and in seasons of life, when Nathan teaches or we are playing ball, or Mellors are traveling, those times we catch up are dear. This book by Nathan Mellor is Nathan. He has a special habit of seeing ordinary as extraordinary and showing it to you as well. As he walks you though his family's history, you walk along your own. Military service of grandparents.... Parents who are first to graduate from College... Life always seen as ordinary until seen though Divine gratitude, and they become extraordinary. It is a new take on the neuroplasticity of the brain, not in what it can accomplish, but how the knowledge may change your ordinary day into extraordinary. The stories he tells are not of rock stars, extremely gifted athletes or those famous. Which is the charm. You too can hold the ordinary and turn it into extraordinary.
God Shaped Brain - Finished March 16, 2019. This book was excellent as it married neurobiology, psychology and scripture. I recommend this whole heartedly. I also will change how I am beginning to meditate based on the data.
Into the Wild - Finished March 18, 2019. WOW. Just what I needed. Nonfiction, fabulous story that kept me engaged but gave my brain a tad of a rest. Well done.
The Beautiful Struggle - Finished March 25, 2019. This middle aged white woman is a fan of Mr. Coats. He writes of a real world I would not be privy to unless he wrote. He makes me want to chase rabbits of a history of which I am ignorant. I thank him and will read anything he writes.
Doing the Right Thing - Finished March 26, 2019. I enjoyed this book because of the logical approach to morality and ethics. "The law is the floor of morality" has me thinking and pondering over such a statement. Legality is the very least you do to keep "moral". It dovetails so perfectly with Jesus' statements about "you have heard....but I...." The Law was the least of the requirement for the Jews.
How To Be Free - Finished March 6, 2019. A very quick book about the theory of living a Stoic life. Freedom is in your head. It is leaving behind that which could entangle you.
Option B - Finished March 10, 2019. I havent cried through a book like this in a while... It was entirely due to empathy for a woman who lost her husband she loved dearly. She liked him. I like mine. Liking is so different than loving. Of course we love them, but I feel doubly blessed I like mine, and this feeling fed into feels of what I would feel at my own personal loss. Sorry, John. It was well done in how do you deal, persevere, overcome difficult life happenings. No gets out of this life unchafed - this is how to do it well.
White Fragility - Finished March 12, 2019. It was interesting and uncomfortable. As it should be. I found it fascinating as this book, while directed at white people, very much called out "progressive white people" many times who the author tended to state believed they were just fine regarding race. I have often wondered that myself, especially after Malcolm Gladwell's podcast covering this thing. Thats not to say that if you do not identify as "Progressive" you are let off the hook, far from it - it was just an interesting beginning and theme through out the book. I self-righteously felt pleased that there was information in this book I already knew - and then was chided that there was also much I did not know. I found it fascinating, humbling. I will continue the work suggested in this book. As an aside, this book was recommended reading on an Instagram post. Yarn artists (knitters, crocheters, dyers) have been having an ongoing discussion on the medium over race. For the most part, it has been a growing and learning exchange, at least on my part.
*** As I count only 6 books almost half way through March, I am slightly dismayed. I have come to realize that being gone in the evenings has put a crimp in my reading. I am examining how to adjust to continue as I have. But honestly, if I slow down, its fine...Its baseball season - the best season of the year.
Sleeping Giants - Finished March 13, 2019. This book is precious to me. Written by someone my family cherishes. The Mellors are family. They walked into our bible class about 12 years ago, and we liked them instantly. I knew she was a kindred spirit when she told me how much her last child liked mine and for the reason.... He could burp the 23rd Psalm for her daughter. Mercy. Since then, we have worshiped, studied, planted a church, and ended back up in our original class together. There is a hole in our week if we dont connect, and in seasons of life, when Nathan teaches or we are playing ball, or Mellors are traveling, those times we catch up are dear. This book by Nathan Mellor is Nathan. He has a special habit of seeing ordinary as extraordinary and showing it to you as well. As he walks you though his family's history, you walk along your own. Military service of grandparents.... Parents who are first to graduate from College... Life always seen as ordinary until seen though Divine gratitude, and they become extraordinary. It is a new take on the neuroplasticity of the brain, not in what it can accomplish, but how the knowledge may change your ordinary day into extraordinary. The stories he tells are not of rock stars, extremely gifted athletes or those famous. Which is the charm. You too can hold the ordinary and turn it into extraordinary.
God Shaped Brain - Finished March 16, 2019. This book was excellent as it married neurobiology, psychology and scripture. I recommend this whole heartedly. I also will change how I am beginning to meditate based on the data.
Into the Wild - Finished March 18, 2019. WOW. Just what I needed. Nonfiction, fabulous story that kept me engaged but gave my brain a tad of a rest. Well done.
The Beautiful Struggle - Finished March 25, 2019. This middle aged white woman is a fan of Mr. Coats. He writes of a real world I would not be privy to unless he wrote. He makes me want to chase rabbits of a history of which I am ignorant. I thank him and will read anything he writes.
Doing the Right Thing - Finished March 26, 2019. I enjoyed this book because of the logical approach to morality and ethics. "The law is the floor of morality" has me thinking and pondering over such a statement. Legality is the very least you do to keep "moral". It dovetails so perfectly with Jesus' statements about "you have heard....but I...." The Law was the least of the requirement for the Jews.
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